SAN FRANCISCO — Anthony Edwards is 23.
When he hosted Thanksgiving at his house last year, as seen on the Netflix docuseries “Starting 5,” he was gently chided for spending too much time in his room playing video games instead of spending time with his guests.
He admits that he still doesn’t eat as well as he should, unable to fight the impulse toward fast food when his stomach starts to growl. He drives an electric blue Lamborghini because he needs to get where he’s going as fast as possible.
These are all different ways of saying that Edwards is still so young, even though he is in his fifth NBA season, is a two-time All-Star and has been handed the keys to an entire franchise to see just how far he can take the Minnesota Timberwolves. One of the defining characteristics of youth is impatience, the innate desire to want it all right now, no matter what is standing in your way. There is no time to wait.
Just over a quarter of the way through this season, Edwards always seems to have a lot in his way. Opponents are double-teaming him, and sometimes even triple-teaming him, as he probes the defense looking for a crack to get to the basket. With Karl-Anthony Towns in New York, Edwards is facing more instances of multiple defenders than he ever has before.
A natural response for a young player who is in the first year of a contract that will pay him close to $250 million over the next five seasons, is fresh off winning a gold medal in the Paris Olympics and has heard comparisons to you know who is to believe that he can beat the doubles all by himself. He has the physical tools to elevate over almost anyone. He’s shooting the ball well enough that it would be hard to blame him if he just let it fly almost every time he touches the ball.
But that is what defenses like the Golden State Warriors threw at him in Minnesota’s 107-90 victory on Friday night want Edwards to do. Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who coached Edwards in the Paris Olympics, kept throwing double after double after double at him to get the ball out of his hands or, perhaps almost as enticing, lure Edwards into the trap of trying to do too much. This was a nationally televised game. Steph Curry is a global icon, so the temptation was there for Edwards to steal the show and make a statement against his former Team USA teammate.
That’s the fun part of playing the game, and there is so much of Edwards’ game that screams fun. The dunks on someone’s head. The stepback 3s. The trash talk. There is so much youthful energy coursing through his veins that you can almost feel when he is about to unleash a knockout punch before he even does it.
Kerr had to be hoping that he could appeal to that ambition in Edwards and use it against him. For much of the night, as soon as Edwards would turn a corner, he would see blue jerseys everywhere. That gave him two options: go for the highlight or make the right play by moving the ball and see if it came back to him in a better position to do some damage.
Making the pass is the right move, but the boring one. Edwards wants so badly to be great, to not just beat an opponent but break their will. In season No. 5, his 3-point shooting has been a revelation, but it is the patience he is showing on the offensive end that has the Timberwolves believing they can be dangerous.
“I’m young, I still want to get my (shot) off,” Edwards said. “It’s frustrating sometimes, but I got to understand the bigger picture.”
Edwards only took two shots in the first quarter against Golden State’s aggressive defense. He did not get lured into the Warriors trap. Whenever he drove and saw two defenders waiting for him, he moved it to the open man.
CERTIFIED BUCKET GETTER. 🍇 pic.twitter.com/BK28VIRWNH
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2024
And as coach Chris Finch, point guard Mike Conley and center Rudy Gobert have constantly emphasized to him the importance of moving the ball and making the right play, Edwards’ offense has opened up. He had nine assists against the Warriors, but he also scored 30 points, including 4-of-10 3-point shooting.
It was the optimized Ant: Getting his teammates involved amid heavy attention from the defense and then scoring when the opportunity presented itself.
“I thought tonight he was masterful in that,” coach Chris Finch said. “We gotta do a little bit better job of providing clean spacing around some of that time that he is getting doubled. But I thought he did a great job of getting off of it, embracing it. Getting downhill, mixing it all up.”
Edwards was 11 of 18 from the field and also had four rebounds and two blocks. He turned it over four times, but his unselfishness early helped set the tone for the offense. The Wolves had 32 assists on 40 made baskets, which included back-to-back lobs from Edwards to Rudy Gobert in the fourth quarter.
WE ARE HAVING FUN WITH IT. pic.twitter.com/Aw6uEN75LI
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2024
“I think he realizes now that getting triple-teamed, double-teamed is the ultimate respect and he realizes it’s on him,” said Gobert, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. “That first pass might not get him anything or be the flashy play, but that first pass to the open guy is a killer for the other team and usually we’re able to get something even easier than we would’ve got if he went one-on-one.”
But Edwards still had chances to go into his bag as well. There were several times in the game where the Warriors carved into the Minnesota lead, including trimming a 12-point third-quarter advantage for the Wolves down to three points early in the fourth. Finch went right back to Edwards when that happened, and he drove baseline and threaded a perfect pass to Mike Conley for a corner 3.
TIMELY MIKE BUCKETS. 🪣 pic.twitter.com/EqqyOKn5lD
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2024
“That was a dime,” Edwards said with a proud smile.
He followed that move up with a four-point play, and the Wolves never looked back.
Their defense was, once again, amazing. Minnesota held Golden State to 39 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers. Jaden McDaniels hounded Curry all night, holding him to 23 points while being just 6 of 17 from the field, including 3 of 9 from 3.
Naz Reid added nine points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks and the Wolves won Edwards’ 35 minutes by 23 points.
The Wolves (12-10) have now won four consecutive games, each time holding opponents under 95 points, the longest such streak since 2012.
GO CRAZY 5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/mFcjHIobLi
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 7, 2024
For Edwards, the key has been getting more reps with the defense he’s facing so often now. Defenses are sagging off of McDaniels, Conley and Julius Randle, who had 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and packing the paint against Edwards.
“People don’t understand how much I love to pass it to my teammates and they get a dunk or hit the shot,” Edwards said. “Because, if I hit a shot, I’m super happy. So I know if they hit a shot, they’re super happy, and I’m super happy for them.”
Those vibes appear to be contagious. After a lethargic start to the season, the Wolves have looked more engaged and more connected during this winning streak. Smiles are easier. The defense is nastier. The maturity in Edwards’ game is starting to shine.
“It’s him being able to do that consistently is going to force teams into tough decisions,” Gobert said. “I think he’s really in that phase now where at some point, teams are going to ask themselves if it’s good to put two or three guys on him.”
Edwards says he has learned to stay in the middle of the floor as much as possible on offense. It is harder for teams to double him there as opposed to when he is near the sideline and gets trapped. That recognition can go a long way toward breathing some life into this offense.
“He doesn’t seem as panicked by those moments when he doesn’t touch the ball for a while or hasn’t taken a shot for a little while,” Finch said.
Now the Timberwolves don’t seem as jittery overall as they were in the early course of this season, when their defense plummeted and their heads were hanging after almost every mistake. Now Edwards is showing signs of starting to think about the game as well.
His importance was underscored as the fourth quarter approached. Edwards went to the bench with the Wolves up 11 and 2 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter. By the time he came back, with 10:21 left in the game, the Wolves were only up 3. But Edwards orchestrated a 25-7 run in just over eight minutes, talking trash the whole way. He accounted for 20 points, with his scoring and assisting, then let out a howl after his last 3.
“I know he loves to talk. I love that energy that he brings,” Curry said. “We gotta go right back at him. The fun part about this little baseball series is we get to do it again on Sunday.”
(Photo of Anthony Edwards: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)
